Analysis: Duke basketball continues to win without Marvin Bagley III

Fifth-ranked Duke has played so well lately that college basketball analysts have actually debated whether the Blue Devils
(23-5, 11-4 ACC) are a better team without freshman phenom Marvin Bagley III. That might be a stretch.

Either way, Allen scored a game-high 28 points
as Duke built a 21-point first-half lead and cruised to its fourth consecutive with an 82-56 win over Louisville in Durham,
N.C.

Bagley missed his fourth game in a row with a mild right knee sprain, but the Blue Devils didn’t need the ACC’s leading scorer
and rebounder to easily get past the Cardinals (18-10, 8-7).

Allen drained 6
3-pointers, and with Carter not having to share the paint with Bagley, the freshman big man added 18 points, 9 rebounds and
6 assists. He also defended the rim, blocking 3 shots and helping to hold Louisville to just 25 points in the first half.

With Bagley forced to sit on the bench, Duke has won its last four games in convincing fashion.

Grayson Allen’s growth

Allen has managed to overcome his shooting slump from a few weeks ago.

The 6-foot-5 senior continued to show his re-emergence, finding his shooting touch early on and not letting up against a Louisville
defense that allowed him to get good looks at the basket.

Allen scored 10 of Duke’s first 26 points and made 5 of 11 shots in the first half, including 3 3-pointers. He finished 6
of 15 on 3-point attempts and 10 of 20 overall.

Allen has taken on a larger offensive role since Bagley suffered his knee injury. The guard entered Wednesday averaging 22.3
points over Duke’s previous three games.

He was even more of a factor against Louisville, scoring 15 points in the second half as the Blue Devils never gave the Cardinals
any hope of pulling off a late comeback.

Attacking the boards

Duke had no trouble grabbing rebounds against Louisville.

With Carter playing around the basket and sophomore Javin DeLaurier starting in Bagley’s place, the Blue Devils outrebounded
the Cardinals by a 44-30 margin.

DeLaurier grabbed 8 rebounds, including 4 offensive boards, to go along with 5 points. He used his size to give Duke another
solid big man to take advantage of against an overmatched Louisville team.

The Blue Devils shot 48.3 percent from the floor, and they benefitted from second-chance points that came off rebounds. They
had 12
offensive boards.

Slowing down Louisville

Louisville scored 94 points in a win over struggling Pittsburgh on Feb. 11. The Cardinals didn’t come anywhere close to matching
that against Duke.

Even with Bagley unable to defend the paint as he usual does, Louisville’s struggled to get into an offensive rhythm while
starting four forwards. Turnovers mounted early on, and shots didn’t fall. It was a recipe for disaster.

Duke held the Cardinals to just 36.7 percent shooting in the first half, including 1 for 8 on 3-point attempts.

Junior Ray Spalding had 17 points to lead only 3 Louisville players in double figures. Making matters worse, the Cardinals
committed 15 turnovers and attempted only 7 free throws compared to 16 by Duke.

It’s not that this was a must-win game Wednesday night for Florida, but at some point very soon, something has to change if
the Gators are going to have any chance to make a postseason run this year.

Instead, the slide continued at Tennessee for the reeling Gators.

There was no second-half collapse this time, but only because Florida were never in a position of control after halftime.

No. 19 Tennessee pulled ahead late in the first half and never lost its lead the rest of the way, closing out 62-57 win at
Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.

Florida (17-11, 8-7 SEC) has now lost three straight and six of its last eight conference games, continuing a frustrating
stretch that is threatening to undo a season that once had a lot of potential and promise.

The Gators tried to reverse their recent script, whittling a 10-point second half deficit down to 1 several times. But that’s
as close as it would get as Tennessee (20-7, 10-5) sealed the win.

A Dontay Bassett layup with 11:05 cut the Vols’ lead to 37-36, but a dunk by Jordan Bowden, a jumper from Admiral Schofield
and a layup and free throw from Schofield quickly made it a 44-36 game.

And with 5:02 left, it was back to a 10-point game at 52-42.

Florida simply didn’t have the shooting Wednesday night that it normally needs to win.

The Gators started 3 of 19 from 3-point range before Jalen Hudson and Keith Stone hit back-to-back 3s to make it 54-48 and
give the visitors some late life, but the game never got closer than 3 points the rest of the way.

Chris Chiozza made a quick layup and drew a foul with 24.5 seconds remaining, but he missed the free throw to keep it at 60-57
and two free throws from Bowden on the other end effectively sealed the game.

Florida shot just 35 percent from the field for the game and 25 percent (6 of 24) from 3-point range.

Hudson led the Gators with 13 points and 5 rebounds, Chiozza finished with 11 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds and Stone had
11 points.

KeVaughn Allen was a non-factor again, taking just 3 shots and missing all 3 in 29 minutes, and Egor Koulechov struggled offensively
while shooting 2-of-10 to finish with 7 points.

Grant Williams led the Vols with 23 points while Schofield chipped in 16 points and 8 boards.

Florida has just three regular-season games left to try to turn the tide and remain in the NCAA tournament picture.